Malaysia, Indonesia, & Singapore

Heading South

Malaysia● Malaysia is a mix of the modern world and a

developing nation. With its investment in the high technology industries and moderate oil wealth, it has become one of the richer nations in Southeast Asia.

● West Malaysia shares a border with Thailand, is connected by a causeway and a bridge to the island state of Singapore, and has coastlines on the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca.

● East Malaysia (Borneo) shares borders with Brunei and Indonesia.

Malaysia's flag is based on that of the United States, a country whose democratic ideals the young nation sought to emulate upon gaining independence from Great Britain in 1957. The 14 stripes represent Malaysia's states, while the square in the upper left contains the moon and sun of Islam.

Malaysia

● The Government of Malaysia is a Constitutional Monarchy.

● The Capital is Kuala Lumpur.● The current population is slightly

more than 31 Million.● Malay is the official language of the

country but English and Chinese are also commonly found.

● As an oil and gas exporter, Malaysia has profited from higher world energy prices.

● The country is also moving into an age of more multinational finance and high-tech commercialism.

Government & People

The Petronas Towers are a landmark of Kuala Lumpur, and from 1998-2004 were the worlds tallest towers at 1,483 feet high. The towers are connected by a pedestrian sky bridge on the 41st floor.

● Malaysia’s are comes in at just under 205,000 square miles.

● Malaysia is slightly larger than the state of New Mexico.

● The terrain is one of coastal plains along the oceans which rise to hills and mountains.

● Malaysia has a tropical climate which is affected by the monsoon seasons.

● Malaysia is close to the equator, therefore warm weather is guaranteed with an average daytime temperature at just under 90 degrees.

Geography & Climate

● More than fifteen hundred years ago a Malay kingdom in Bujang Valley welcomed traders from China and India.

● With the arrival of gold and silks, Buddhism and Hinduism also came to Malaysia.

● A thousand years later, Arab traders arrived in Malacca and brought with them the principles and practices of Islam.

● Perhaps the easiest way to begin to understand the highly complex cultural interaction which is Malaysia is to look at the open door policy maintained during religious festivals.

● Although Malaysia's different cultural traditions are frequently maintained by seemingly self-contained ethnic communities, all of Malaysia's communities open their doors to members of other cultures during a religious festival--to tourists as well as neighbors.

Culture & Religion

One of the significant characteristics of Malaysian culture is its celebration of various festivals and events. The year is filled with colorful, exhilarating and exciting activities. Some are religious and solemn but many others are vibrant, joyous events.

● 2,500 years before Christ a much more technologically advanced group migrated to the peninsula from China. Called the Proto-Malays, they were seafarers and farmers.

● Early writings from India speak of a place called Savarnadvipa -- the Land of Gold.

● Blown across the Bay of Bengal by the reliable winds of the southwest monsoon, they arrived in Kedah sometime around 100 BC. and it is certain that the sailors considered the trip lucrative.

● The Indians also brought a pervasive culture. Hinduism and Buddhism swept through the land, bringing temples and Indian cultural traditions.

● At the beginning of the 16th century the competing European powers, painfully aware of the need for an open trade route to India and the Far East, sought to establish their own trading ports at the source.

History

● The Portuguese constructed a massive fort in Malacca - A Famosa - which the Dutch captured in turn in 1641.

● This would give the Dutch an almost exclusive lock on the spice trade until 1785, when the British East India Company convinced the Sultan of Kedah to allow them to build a fort on the island of Penang.

● The British were mainly interested in having a safe port for ships on their way to China, but when France captured the Netherlands in 1795, England's role in the region would amplify.

● While the European powers played their regional chess game, the local Malay sultanates continued on their own affairs.

● Britain ruled over what was then called Malaya until the Japanese invaded and ousted them in 1942.

● When W.W.II ended, Britain resumed control again, but Malaya's independence movement had matured and organized itself in an alliance under Tunku Abdul Rahman.

● Britain granted Malaysia its independence in 1957.

History

● Indonesia is composed of seventeen thousand islands that stretch over five thousand miles along the equator.

● The Malay peninsula and Indochina are situated to the north-west, and the continent of Australia lies due south. Northward lie the Philippines and Micronesia.

● Unity in Diversity, the national motto of Indonesia, is a term that strikes deep into the heart of this dynamic and attractive Southeast Asian nation. Few places offer such cultural variety and geographical complexity as Indonesia.

Indonesia

Indonesia

Government & People● The government of Indonesia is a

Federal Republic.● The capital is Jakarta.● The population is approximately 253.6

Million people.● There are more than 700 languages

spoken in Indonesia with the most common being Javanese. The official language is Bahasa and English and Dutch are spoken as well.

● Its industries include petroleum and natural gas while farming includes the production of rubber and forest products.

Geography & Climate● The world's largest archipelago, Indonesia's

constellation of islands straddles the divide between the Asian and Australian continental plates.

● The islands contain a variety of topographies and ecologies.

● Mist-shrouded volcanoes and mountains, unexplored rain forests, thousands of miles of beaches, and endless offshore reefs support an abundance of wildlife.

● There are two discernible seasons in Indonesia: the dry season, which extends from June to October, and the rainy season, which lasts from November to March. Both are hot.

● The coastal regions, however, are often cool, and in the mountains the air is often chilly

Mount Gamalama spews volcanic ash as it erupts on Ternate Island, eastern

Indonesia.

Culture & Religion● The name Indonesia derives from the Greek

words Indós and nèsos, which means "island".● Indonesia has about 300 ethnic groups, each

with cultural identities developed over centuries, and influenced by Indian, Arabic, Chinese, and European sources.

● Traditional Javanese and Balinese dances, for example, contain aspects of Hindu culture and mythology; however, Chinese, Arab, and European architectural influences have been significant with Indian being the dominant design.

● the government officially recognizes only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, though Indonesia’s constitution stipulates religious freedom.

Borobudur Temple, Indonesia

History● As early as the seventh century, powerful Buddhist and Hindu

empires challenged each other for supremacy in Indonesia.● In the thirteenth century, the Hindu Majapahit of Java faced a

strong challenge from Muslim forces, which spread south from the Malay peninsula. Slowly losing ground, the Hindus retreated to Bali, where they remain today.

● The rest of the islands became Muslim, and various sultanates were established.

● The sixteenth century marked the arrival of the Portuguese, the first Europeans in Indonesia. Although the Portuguese broke the Islamic hold on Indonesia, they were eventually displaced in turn by the Dutch, who named the area the Dutch East Indies.

● Dutch rule continued until W.W.II and invasion by the Japanese.

At the war's end a liberation movement led to a bloody war of independence against the restored Dutch rule.

The war dragged on for four long years, from 1945-1949, but the independence movement was ultimately victorious.

Turmoil characterized the first decade of Indonesian independence, until in 1957 Sukarno unified power in his own person.

An attempted coup against Sukarno in 1965 brought renewed turmoil; however, the army led by General Suharto restored order and initiated a purge of communists.

Eventually Suharto eased Sukarno out of the presidency and assumed office himself. Suharto's rule ushered in a period of stability and economic development that exists today.

History

● Officially known as the Republic of Singapore,

● is a sovereign city-state and island country in

● Southeast Asia.● It lies off the southern tip of the Malay

Peninsula.● Before becoming the city known today,

Singapore was just a humble fishing village, inhabited by an indigenous settlement.

● Singapore has a land area of about 442 square miles, making it one of the smallest countries in the world and the smallest in the region.

Singapore

● Singapore is just about 3.5 times the size of Washington, DC.

● The government is a Parliamentary Republic.

● The climate of Singapore is tropical; hot, humid, rainy; two distinct monsoon seasons, Northeastern monsoon (Dec. to March) and Southwestern monsoon (June to Sept.).

● Today, Singapore has a highly developed market economy, based historically on extended entrepôt trade.

● Singapore is one of the original Four Asian Tigers along with Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Singapore

● Singapore soon attracted migrants and merchants from China, the Indian sub-continent, Indonesia, the Malay Peninsula and the Middle East.

● Today, the ethnic Chinese form 74.2% of the Singaporean population, with the country’s original inhabitants, the Malays, comprising 13.3%.

● Almost everyone in Singapore speaks more than one language, with some speaking as many as three or four. Most children grow up bilingual from infancy, learning other languages as they become older.

● With the majority of the literate population bilingual, English and Mandarin are the most commonly used languages in daily life.

● English is the main language taught in schools.

Culture

Chinese New Year’s celebration in Singapore.

● Buddhism is the most widely practised religion in Singapore.● The next-most practised religion is Christianity, followed by Islam,

Taoism, and Hinduism.

● Buddhism 34%● Christianity 18%● None 16%● Muslim 14%● Other 10%● Hindu 5%

Religion

● Temasek ('sea town'), a second century outpost of the Sumatran Srivijaya empire, is the earliest known settlement on Singapore.

● In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement and the island sank into obscurity for the next two centuries.

● In 1819, Thomas Stamford Raffles arrived and signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor, on behalf of the British East India Company, to develop the southern part of Singapore as a British trading post.

● In 1824, the entire island became a British possession under a further treaty with the Sultan.

History

● During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded British Malaya, culminating in the Battle of Singapore and the defeat of the British.

● The British repossessed it in September 1945, after the Surrender of Japan.

● On August 31st, 1963, Singapore declared independence from the United Kingdom.

● It joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963 but separated two years later and became independent.

● Singapore gained independence as the Republic of Singapore on August 9th, 1965.

History

With the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Britain suffered the worst humiliation in its military history. The photograph sums it up: General Arthur Percival, the British commander in Malaya, and his fellow officers, walking forlornly towards the Japanese commanders to sign the dismal surrender. With their baggy shorts, knee-length socks and tin helmets, one carries the Union Jack while another holds the white flag of surrender.

● East Timor was colonised by Portugal in the 16th century, and was known as Portuguese Timor until Portugal's decolonization of the country.

● In late 1975, East Timor declared its independence but later that year was invaded andoccupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesia's 27th province the following year.

● In 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory, and East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, 2002.

● At just over 9200 square miles it is slightly larger than Connecticut.

● The climate is tropical; hot, humid; distinct rainy and dry seasons and the terrain is mountainous.

● Population is slightly more than 1.2 million● The primary religion is Roman Catholic at 97% of the

population.● The government is a Presidential Republic.

East Timor

● The small country of Brunei Darussalam is situated on the northwestern edge of the island of Borneo, an island which is also a part of Indonesia and Malaysia.

● In fact, it once controlled much of Borneo, as well as the southern Philippines. Its regional influence peaked by the end of the 17th century.

● Government is a Constitutional Sultanate.● Approximately 3,500 square miles; slightly

smaller than Delaware.● The climate is tropical; hot, humid, & rainy.● Muslim is the dominant religion● Malay, English, & Chinese are the primary

languages,● Population is 422,675.

Brunei